PANAMA CANAL & EXPANSION
Updated: June 23, 2011
WHAT IS IT?
C UR R E NT S H I P S I Z E
R E S TR ICT ION S
( P A N A M A X VE S S E L S )
965 feet long •
106 feet wide •
39.5 feet of draft •
190 feet height (205 feet at low tide) AF
T
•
NEW SHIP SIZE
( P A N A M A X VE S S E L S )
1,200 feet long •
160.7 feet wide •
49.9 feet of draft EXPANSION
Construction on the Panama Canal
expansion began in 2007. The
expansion of the Panama Canal will
construct two locks, one on the Atlantic
side and one on the Pacific side. This will
significantly increase the size of ships,
and, coupled with the existing locks,
allow for tonnage to increase through the
D
R
•
The Panama Canal is a manmade
ship canal linking the Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans. In 1914, United
States completed the massive
project which allows ships
traveling from New York to San
Francisco halve their distance to
5,900 miles, from 14,000 miles
around Cape Horn. The canal is
over 50 feet long. It takes between
20 to 30 hours to transit the canal.
The United States continued to
operate the Panama Canal until December 31, 1999, at which point it was returned
to Panama. In 2010, there were over 14,000 ship traverses, which carried over 200
million long-tons of cargo.
canal. Even with the Canal expansion,
the largest container and tanker ships
already built will still be unable to use the
Canal, although many others that are too
big for the current canal will be able to
use the expanded locks. The new locks
are expected to open in 2014
EFFECT ON CENTRAL OHIO
The new capacity will allow increased
access to east coast ports for ships that
otherwise would have to unload on the
West Coast. This will have the effect of
reducing congestion at West Coast ports
such as Los Angeles and Long Beach.
The biggest effect will be felt at Ports on
the East Coast, such as the Port of
Virginia and the Port of New York and
New Jersey. However, the impact will not
stop at the ports. Public/private
partnerships have developed to deal with
the movement of this new freight inland.
Two of the major partnerships have
directly impacted central Ohio; NS’s
Heartland Corridor and CSX’s National
Gateway. Both of these projects have
had major impacts on the region, both in
terms of intermodal growth and the
location of new intermodal yards/
capacity.